June 1, 1998

(WINTER PARK, FLORIDA) - GMD Studios (Orlando/New York City), in its continuing effort to support independent artists, has announced its sponsorship of two back-to-back film festivals: the First Annual New York International Documentary Festival in New York (which ran May 27-31) and the 7th Annual Florida Film Festival in Orlando, Florida (which runs June 12-21). GMD Studios is contributing over $27,000 in service donations to these two festivals, the majority to the Florida Film Festival, of which the firm has been a major supporter since 1994.

Founded in 1991 and organized by Enzian Theater in Maitland, Florida, The Florida Film Festival has developed a worldwide reputation as a filmmaker's festival by providing an atmosphere away from the usual frenzy of studio executives and business dealings, although films are picked up there occasionally. The festival is particularly strong in its documentary programming (which in past years included "Waco: The Rules of Engagement" and "Hands on a Hardbody"), but it also includes a substantial feature film offering and other special features like the Animated Shorts program and the student films competition.

Docfest, an annual international non-competitive event to celebrate and promote the documentary art form, is making its debut this year in New York. Each documentary is presented by the filmmaker and features a discussion with the audience following the film. Renowned participants include Melvin Van Peebles, Morley Safer of CBS News, seminal cinéma vérité filmmaker Jean Rouch from France.

"Supporting independent media really dovetails with our mission on the Web," says sponsorship producer Brian Clark. "Web media is essentially no different from other media. You have corporate-financed business pursuits, and then you have indie producers struggling to do something innovative and artistic on a shoestring budget. Film festivals celebrate these independents, and we're proud of our track record of supporting them."

Information on the Florida Film Festival is available at http://www.floridafilmfestival.org/ and information on Docfest is available at http://www.docfest.org/. GMD Studios has sponsored dozens of film festivals since its founding in 1995, including the Sudance Film Festival and the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival.